Howard was appointed Deputy Mayor for Business and Chair of London and Partners in December 2023.

Before joining the Mayor’s team, Howard worked in business for thirty years, spending 17 years as Managing Director for Strategy of the Canary Wharf Group. At Canary Wharf, Howard was involved in the development of the Elizabeth Line and supporting the 2012 Olympic Bid and Olympic Legacy as well as commercial inward investment projects in tech, health and life sciences, and financial services.

He has been an active member of business organisations including Business LDN, London Chamber of Commerce and Industry, TheCityUK and the London Property Alliance.

He is a trustee of “The Line” art walk along the River Lea. Formerly Chair of the East End Community Foundation (2013-2022) he is now a patron of the charity, and a patron and former Vice-President of UK Youth.

Howard was Chair of the Business Advisory Board for the University of East London School of Business and Law and has been a visiting lecturer at the School.

Howard was a Parliamentary Candidate for the Labour Party and is the Chair of Labour Friends of Bangladesh and Labour Friends of USA.

Hailey Eustace is the Founder of Commplicated, the first strategic communications and branding firm built specifically for early stage deeptechs, to help startups and VCs articulate their vision more clearly and in ways that actually move the needle.

Hailey started her career at the Texas Emerging Technology Fund, a $485 million fund specialising in biotechnology, clean energy, and deeptech, managing the due diligence and follow-on funding from Seed to Series B as well as communications.Subsequently, she moved to London and became head of global communications at the largest accelerator network in the world, worked on global campaigns for brands such as Microsoft and HSBC, and led communications and brand at a deeptech startup out of Cambridge. She is now a first cheque angel investor in deeptech and health tech startups and a scout for VCs, and mentors at organisations such as Founders@Cambridge, Deeptech Labs, the Royal Academy of Engineering, Ada Ventures, Maze Impact, and Zinc VC.

Jeremy has been a VC investor for nearly a decade in both Silicon Valley and Europe and is an Investment Principal at Anthemis focused on early stage AI and deep tech investments across Europe. He is a former geophysicist and has been a venture investor in Silicon Valley, Berlin, and London.

He has a background in deep technology investments spanning construction/built environment, energy, manufacturing, climate and life sciences. Prior to venture, Jeremy was an academic and product manager leading enterprise software product development at a large energy services company, based in the Netherlands. Jeremy holds a Ph.D in geophysics from Stanford University and an MBA from Stanford Graduate School of Business.

Karl Susol is Head of AI, Infrastructure and Technology Directorate, at the UK’s Department for Business and Trade, where he leads on AI Trade & Investment within the Strategic Technologies team. In this role, he is responsible for promoting the UK’s strengths in artificial intelligence across international markets, supporting high growth AI companies to scale globally, and attracting inward investment into the UK’s AI and data ecosystem. His work spans across applied AI, digital infrastructure, and emerging technologies, working closely with UK AI scale up, industry, investors, and international partners to build strategic technology and commercial collaborations.

Katy Wakefield is Programme Director at Boardwave, the peer community connecting the founders and CEOs behind Europe’s most ambitious software and AI companies. She leads Boardwave’s European programme, bringing together technology leaders through events, mentoring, partnerships, and peer networks designed to help companies scale through shared experience and meaningful connection.

Passionate about building communities with real impact, Katy works closely with founders, operators, and ecosystem leaders across Europe to create conversations and programmes that support growth, leadership, and collaboration across the tech industry. Boardwave’s community spans 2,000+ members across 15 countries, with profits supporting the fight to cure Parkinson’s.

I am Andy Jones, journalist and broadcaster, I have written for every UK national newspaper - broadsheets and tabloids - and produced articles for titles as varied as Monocle, Vice, GQ and Wired. I've also made and fronted TV programmes for BBC1, BBC2 and C4 Dispatches as well as my own radio packages for BBC World Service, BBC Radio 4 and Monocle Radio.

I have a specialism in investigative work - reporting from refugee camps for BBC and anti-poaching missions in Gabon rainforest - as well as breaking big news stories for The Sunday Times/The Times; and business stories for BBCWS and tech stories for Wired.

I have also media trained 350+ speakers, predominantly Scandinavians, in preparation for them speaking to the UK broadcast, tabloid and print media.

Gustav Bild-Tofftin is a Founder of Humly Edtech, a position he has held for 11 years. Humly operates a digital marketplace connecting educators with exciting opportunities in schools and preschools. Having relocated to the UK five years ago, Gustav personally led the company's expansion into the English market.

Salla Hänninen is the Vice President of Business Development (Nordics & Baltics) at London & Partners, the business growth agency for London. As the first point of contact for the city, Salla acts as a strategic bridge for high-growth tech companies looking to enter the UK. With a background as a founder and a leader in international communications, she specializes in identifying market opportunities and connecting scaleups with the sector-specific expertise needed to thrive. At this event, Salla shares her insights on navigating the London ecosystem and turning the UK into a springboard for global growth.

Since 2012, Benjamin’s agency, Deliberate PR, has supported Swedish startups and scaleups by leveraging the UK media’s ongoing fascination with all things Nordic to turn Britain into a gateway to the US and wider English-speaking world.

Deliberate PR takes pride in creating news-powered editorial media visibility for startups which attracts investors, conference organisers, and provides ammunition for sales teams.

Deliberate PR Nordic clients include Pophouse Entertainment, Paebbl, Alight, Exeger, Nordic Air Defence, SweBal (Sweden Ballistics), Kahoot!, Svenska Institutet, Node.VC, Strise, and Magnus Carlsen’s Take Take Take app.

Catherine Hanley is a Senior Portfolio Manager at Commplicated where she works with deeptech startups to achieve their next business and funding milestones. Catherine has an MSc in Computer Science and most recently worked at a neurotech startup that was using AI and neural data to develop a new class of precision medicine, ultimately running their lead therapy programme for cardiovascular disease. Prior to this, as a member of the technical team, she implemented methods to communicate trial results to different stakeholders. Catherine also has extensive experience managing UK and US government-backed, startup-led research projects.

Matthew Blakemore stands at the forefront of making artificial intelligence both powerful and responsible, serving as a bridge between complex technology and practical human needs. As CEO of AI Caramba! and a key architect of international AI standards, he transforms how organisations and industries adopt AI technology. His influence spans from shaping the ISO/IEC 8183 AI Data Lifecycle Standard—impacting AI governance across more than 165 countries—to helping to shape and lead upskilling programmes that have reached over 70,000 professionals globally.

From reinventing fashion retail with AI-powered solutions to revolutionising film classification through patented technology, Blakemore's journey reflects a persistent drive to make AI work for real human challenges. In 2025 he is launching his "Snakes and Ladders AI Framework", a practical guide for organisations navigating the complex terrain of AI implementation. His advisory roles with Innovate UK's £100M Bridge AI Programme and Kinetic Investments help shape the future of technology investment and innovation.

Beyond the boardroom, Blakemore is recognised in the Top 100 Influential People of 2025 and UK Forty Under 40, with his influence reaching worldwide audiences through global speaking and online engagement, where he breaks down complex AI concepts into actionable insights. As AI and New Tech Expert for Belgian Broadcaster VRT and Future Media Hubs (with 50+ public service broadcaster members), he guides media organisations in harnessing AI's creative potential, proving that responsible AI can enhance rather than replace human creativity.

Fredrik Warneryd is the Chief Executive for the Swedish Chamber of Commerce for the UK, one of the largest and most active foreign chambers in the UK. Prior to joining the Chamber, Fredrik held many leading positions in the City of London. With more than 25 years of experience within the Nordic teams of Banque Paribas, Dresdner Kleinwort Benson, UBS and Credit Suisse, he has earned extensive knowledge and expertise in both the UK and Nordic markets.  

Tess is a Business Development Manager - Consumer Tech & Services at the West Midlands Growth Company (WMGC), where she drives digital and technology inward investment into the region. A natural connector and partnerships leader, she works with scaling tech businesses and global enterpris-es to navigate UK market entry, providing consultative support, market insights, introductions, and access to the right ecosystem partners.

Over the past four years, Tess has guided more than 20 companies in establishing and expand-ing their UK presence, attracting multi-million-pound of investments into the West Midlands. She has collaborated with a wide range of businesses, from startups like Inicio.ai to major corporates such as Howden and Alvarez & Marsal, helping them unlock opportunities and build lasting re-gional footprints.

Her contributions to the industry have been recognised with a place on the Innovate Finance Women in FinTech Powerlist 2024 and as a finalist in the Women in Tech Awards 2025. Beyond WMGC, Tess is committed to supporting the next generation of business developers and current-ly mentors early-career professionals through Tangent, a platform advancing social mobility in the tech sector.

Driven by a belief that the right connections can make or break market entry, Tess is passionate about building bridges between businesses, investors, and ecosystem partners to ensure growth is both impactful and sustainable.

Anna Byström is a Partner and Head of Digital Law with focus on TMT and regulated sectors, with 25 years of experience as lawyer both as external counsel and inhouse roles in Stockholm and Paris. Anna is a previous General Counsel within telecoms with responsibility for legal, regulatory, risk, compliance and digital regulations.  

Matt joined Scottish Development International in September 2025 as a Lead Generation (Inward Investment) Specialist for the UK & Ireland.

For the past eight years, he has worked with DBT in London as Senior Manager (EMEA) for Tech Trade & Investment, where his team led DBT’s involvement in major events such as London Tech Week and Mobile World Congress. Through this work, he helped support several significant inward investment projects.

Earlier in his career, Matt held roles with the Commonwealth Business Council and worked as an FDI Consultant for Frenger International, generating investment leads from companies across the UK, mainland Europe, and the US with cross-border investment plans.

In his role, Matt focuses on Data & Digital Technology and High-Value Manufacturing. A graduate of Newcastle University, Matt is passionate about driving positive economic impact for his home nation.

Mats Torstendahl is the Head of SEB UK as of August 25, 2025.

SEB is a northern European bank with international reach. This means that we support our home market customers locally when they do business around the world.

Since 1856 we’ve been guided by a strong belief that entrepreneurial minds and innovative companies are key in creating a better world. We play an active part in the development of the societies in which the bank is operating by building strong customer relationships. In Sweden and the Baltic countries, we are a universal bank, providing a full-service offering to all customer segments. In Denmark, Finland, Norway, Germany and the UK, we offer comprehensive solutions for corporate and institutional local clients. SEB is one of the top ten largest companies listed on the Stockholm Nasdaq OMX exchange.

Mr. Torstendahl joined SEB in 2009 after a career with Danske Bank (and its predecessor Östgöta Enskilda Bank) in Sweden. He graduated from the Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm with a Master of Science (Engineering Physics).